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Moto2: Kent battered and bruised after Marquez collision

Published:
12 August 2017

Danny Kent has had an ignominious return to the Moto2 championship, after getting taken out during his first session back in the class at the Austrian Grand Prix. He was involved in a free practice incident with Alex Marquez, falling heavily at the Red Bull Ring’s first corner.

But Kent, deputising for the injured Marcel Schrotter on the Dynavolt Intact Suter machine, admitted afterwards that he was lucky to get away from the incident not too badly hurt and able to continue with the weekend’s action.

“It was not the best of starts that we have hoped for his weekend, obviously. In FP1 I've been taken out by another rider and I have a bit of pain in the neck and hip. I am happy I rode the second practice because it is quite important for me to do some laps to get the feeling for the bike and the team, so that we can make some good progress throughout the weekend.

“Now we will look at the data, compare with Sandro and see where we can improve for tomorrow. The feeling this afternoon was not too bad, I was a bit sore from the crash this morning but of course I just need some more time on the bike because the last time I rode was on a Moto3 and these two bikes are completely different. I need to get back in the rhythm of riding a Moto2 again.”

However, in his defence Marquez was quick to apologise to Kent, admitting responsibility for the crash even though he also admitted that he wasn’t entirely sure why he had crashed when he did.

“This morning gave us the first chance to assess this track in the rain and it was difficult to understand why we saw so many crashes in the braking points. I can’t really explain it but it was very difficult to understand where you can push going into the corner. It seems to be an issue with a lot of rubber particles left by the cars here. I am sorry to Danny for the incident this morning. I immediately went to see him to apologise but there was nothing I could do to avoid that situation.”